ISAAC ASIMOV
The Bicentennial Man
ISAAC ASIMOV
The Bicentennial Man
In the introduction to this Nebula Awards volume it was mentioned that science fiction writers-successful science fiction writers–are unique. No one, however, is quite as unusual as Isaac Asimov. He is unique in almost any direction you look. He has written more on more subjects, and better on more subjects, and more unexpectedly on most subjects, and in more ways on more subjects, than anyone else in the field. He writes poetry, limericks, short stories, novels, essays, articles, nonfiction books, trilogies, jokes and so on-more of them than anyone else could imagine. He has written the first successful science fiction detective story, after being told by the revered John Campbell, long-time editor of ASTOUNDING and later ANALOG SCIENCE FICTION, that it couldn’t be done. He has written curious articles about chemicals that have not yet been invented, such as a chemical that travels in time.
However did this remarkable man come to create this enormous body of work?
He was born January 2, 1920, apparently with an incredible appetite for reading and an equally incredible ability to recall almost everything he has ever read. A third talent, which did not surface until some little time after he had already made his name as a science fiction writer, was the talent of taking the turgid prose in which a great many other people write about matters in the field of science, history, and just about everything else, and turning it into a clear and readable language so effective that other people came very close to remembering the facts so presented as well as Isaac Asimov did himself. But it is as a writer of science fiction that we know and treasure him best. From his early classics in the field, novels such as I, ROBOT, The Foundation series, and PEBBLE IN THE SKY are some of his early science fiction that come to mind. His magnificent story NIGHTFALL and a host of others down the years lead us now to the award winning novelette which follows, THE BICENTENNIAL MAN. In it we are back again with Isaac Asimov’s three laws of robotics which have stood the test of time, and once again back up a novelette to be remembered.
The Three Laws of Robotics
1. A robot may not injure a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
2. A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.
I
Andrew Martin said, “Thank you,” and took the seat offered him. He didn’t look driven to the last resort, but he had been.
He didn’t, actually, look anything, for there was a smooth blankness, to his face, except for the sadness one imagined one saw in his eyes. His hair was smooth, light brown, rather fine; and he had no facial hair. He looked freshly and cleanly shaved. His clothes were distinctly old-fashioned, but neat, and predominantly a velvety red-purple in color.
Facing him from behind the desk was the surgeon The nameplate on the desk included a fully identifying series of letters and numbers which Andrew didn’t bother with. To call him Doctor would be quite enough
“When can the operation be carried through, Doctor?” he asked.
Softly, with that certain inalienable note of respect that a robot always used to a human being, the surgeon said, “I am not certain, sir, that I understand how or upon whom such an operation could be performed.”
There might have been a look of respectful intransigence on the surgeon’s face, if a robot of his sort, in lightly bronzed stainless steel, could have such an expression-or any expression.
Andrew Martin studied the robot’s right hand, his cutting hand, as it lay motionless on the desk. The fingers were long and were shaped into artistically metallic, looping curves so -graceful and appropriate that one could imagine a scalpel fitting them and becoming, temporarily, one piece with them. There would be no hesitation in his work, no stumbling, no quivering, no mistakes. That confidence came with specialization, of course, a specialization so fiercely desired by humanity that few robots were, any longer, independently brained. A surgeon, of course, would have to be. But this one, though brained, was so limited in his capacity that he did not recognize Andrew, had probably never heard of him .